Panic under fire

[BiggusGeekus]

Can anyone point me to a RL study of freezing and panicing in the middle of combat? I'm kicking around the idea of a couple of rules for a "gritty" game, but I'd like them at least somewhat based in reality.

Vets, feel free to chime in with any anecdotes!

 

[DDK]

I've frozen in plenty of situations. Fear is a powerful thing. I remember freezing when my friend was getting his head slammed against a bluestone wall by a guy's knee and I just stood by, watching. I'll never forget how I felt afterward when he looked at me with daggers in his eyes and asked where the hell I was and why the hell I didn't back him up.

Then there was the time in the small pilot's boat an hour and a half out of Thursday Island during a tropical depression with 60-ft. waves... but that wasn't combat, that was just sheer horror

Personally, I'd say you just make it a Fort save to see if the person is Stunned and a Will save for them to get out of the Stun.

If you wanna make it REALLY gritty, make 'em do another Fort save AFTER the combat to see if they throw up or not from combat shakes

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Geeze, I didn't expect to hit gold so early!

So maybe:

If caught flatfooted....

Save Fort DC 10 fear effects - to stop from being flatfooted.
Save Will DC 10 fear effects - to "break out of it" (being attacked will also do this)
Save Fort DC 10 fear effects - or lose 1 round immediately after combat stops due to nausea.

The save is low so that this won't really effect the higher level game, but should put the characters through the paces.

 

[clark411]

Such a set up will be pretty interesting for the class dynamics..

Fighters and Rogues and others with low will saves, who are usually expected to do the most dirty work, will be suffering from combat terror most often.

Alternatively, Wizards / Clerics and those with high will saves will be far less concerned with seeing people killed and harmed. Wizards and low fort save classes will simply be vomiting afterwards more.

I'd also consider an alternative is creating a morale system. When you see your adventuring companion die in combat or simply drop, make a will save.. failure, shaken, failure +5 you flee.. success, no change, success +5 you are resolute to survive/win (gain morale bonuses). Various other circumstances can also cause morale checks in combat with varying reprocussions.. just don't let it slow down combat much, especially in higher levels when characters have seen a lot of death and pain. (Gee, wonder how I run my games? hehe)

 

[BiggusGeekus]

You're right.

Hmmm. Maybe some kind of save based off the BAB? I'll think on it.

 

[Shadowdancer]

The original Cyberpunk version, Cyberpunk 2013, had just such a rule. First time in combat, had a chance of panicking, which gave you a negative to hit in combat. It lessened with each successive combat until it was eliminated completely.

I think the BAB-based save might be the best route, with a resulting negative BAB modifier in combat. Even if the person is actively defending themselves, if they are sufficiently scared, they aren't giving their all to their attacks.

Or maybe two saves -- one to see if they freeze up completely, the other to see if they are scared to the point they don't pursue their attacks.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Go to your library and find "Men Against Fire" by SLA Marshall. It's a study of performance under stress, specifically the performance of riflemen at the platoon and squad level in WWII.

Marshall was one of the first who observed and documented the fact that most trained riflemen don't actually shoot back under fire (though this is documented anecdotally pretty well from the Civil War on). A relative few actually do most of the shooting.

His findings drove a number of changes in military training and conditioning, as well as weapons procurement -- the M14 and M16, which had fully automatic capabilities -- were adopted in part to help increase the volume of fire put out by foot soldiers (something that better training has since rectified somewhat).

Later studies with policemen and others have confirmed what Civila War vets through SLA Marshall have discovered -- fear and surprise have remarkable effects on human beings.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Later studies with policemen and others have confirmed what Civila War vets through SLA Marshall have discovered -- fear and surprise have remarkable effects on human beings.

So does the Spanish Inquisition.

-z

 

[The Fifth Elephant]

Dum-dum!

Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!